Scottish Executive

General Practitioners

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to NHS boards to fund the new GP contract.

Malcolm Chisholm: Details are as follows:

  

 NHS 
  Board
 Totals 
  (000s)


 Argyll and 
  Clyde
 43,939


 Ayrshire 
  and Arran
 36,700


 Borders
 11,382


 Dumfries 
  and Galloway
 16,312


 Fife
 33,153


 Forth Valley
 27,620


 Glasgow
 92,719


 Grampian
 54,346


 Highlands
 32,132


 Lanarkshire
 50,818


 Lothian
 78,646


 Orkney
 3,695


 Shetland
 2,645


 Tayside
 44,762


 Western 
  Isles
 5,224


 Total
 534,093



  Note:

  A total of £559.2 million of resources are being allocated to NHS boards in the 2004-05 Primary Medical Services allocation. NHS boards will be notified of the allocation of any remaining Quality funding in relation to Quality Achievement Payments later in the year.

General Practitioners

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients presented to GPs in the last year.

Malcolm Chisholm: Data on the number of patients presenting to GPs is not held centrally. However, extrapolating information derived from the sample of 62 practices which undertake Continuous Morbidity Recording (CMR) estimates that approximately 3,960,000 individuals were seen by General Medical Practitioners (GPs) in Scotland in the year ending December 2003.

Health

Mr Bruce McFee (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will intervene in the clinical strategy consultation process recently announced by NHS Argyll and Clyde.

Malcolm Chisholm: We will give a view when proposals are submitted. The Executive has strict guidelines on how consultation should be carried out and we look to NHS boards to take such work forward, listening and taking account of the views expressed by all stakeholders in formulating final proposals on any significant service change.

Health

Mr Bruce McFee (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be required to ratify any decision reached by NHS Argyll and Clyde as a result of its clinical strategy consultation.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS boards are required to submit proposals for major service change, including closure of existing premises, for ministerial approval.

Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken by NHS Argyll and Clyde to involve the public as fully as possible in the consultation on its clinical strategy review.

Malcolm Chisholm: While the details are a matter for NHS Argyll and Clyde, at the conclusion of the process I will want to be assured that all views have been taken into account in drafting the proposals and that the consultation has been fully consistent with the Executive guidance on public engagement.

Hospitals

Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many emergency admissions have been received by St John’s Hospital, Livingston, in each year since 1998.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information is shown in the following table:

  

 Year
 St 
  John’s Hospital


 1998
 12,765


 1999
 13,174


 2000
 13,580


 2001
 13,858


 2002
 14,156


 2003
 14,387

Hospitals

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what services are provided at Dumbarton Joint Hospital.

Malcolm Chisholm: In terms of inpatient services, I understand that there are 29 long stay care of the elderly beds and 12 dementia beds currently provided at the Dumbarton Joint Hospital.

  A range of outpatient services and clinics are also provided at the hospital. A full list is available from NHS Argyll and Clyde.

Hospitals

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what services are provided at Helensburgh Victoria Infirmary.

Malcolm Chisholm: In terms of inpatient services, I understand that there are 29 long stay care of the elderly beds and six GP beds currently provided at the Victoria Infirmary in Helensburgh.

  A range of outpatient services and clinics are also provided at the hospital. A full list is available from NHS Argyll and Clyde.

Hospitals

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation mechanisms NHS Argyll and Clyde will use in the consultation on its clinical strategy review.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is largely a matter for NHS Argyll and Clyde as long as their consultation process is consistent with Executive guidelines on public engagement.

Justice

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many criminal cases were called for trial in each of the last three years and how many cases were adjourned, broken down by sheriff court district.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following tables:

  Sheriff Court - Solemn Criminal Cases

  

 Called for 
  Trial
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04


 Grampian Highland 
  and Islands
 204
 210
 263


 Tayside, Central 
  and Fife
 400
 470
 467


 Lothian and 
  Borders
 389
 367
 306


 Glasgow and 
  Strathkelvin
 570
 545
 868


 North Strathclyde
 340
 408
 367


 South Strathclyde, 
  Dumfries and Galloway
 377
 456
 479


 Totals
 2,280
 2,456
 2,750


 Adjourned
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04


 Grampian Highland 
  and Islands
 67
 53
 100


 Tayside, Central 
  and Fife
 80
 115
 123


 Lothian and 
  Borders
 93
 77
 52


 Glasgow and 
  Strathkelvin
 84
 84
 157


 North Strathclyde
 80
 119
 118


 South Strathclyde, 
  Dumfries and Galloway
 94
 73
 75


 Totals
 498
 521
 625



  Sheriff Court - Summary Criminal Cases

  


Called 
  for Trial

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04



Grampian 
  Highland and Islands

4,539

5,073

5,332



Tayside, 
  Central and Fife

9,036

10,234

9,838



Lothian 
  and Borders

7,616

8,174

6,685



Glasgow 
  and Strathkelvin

11,366

12,319

10,325



North 
  Strathclyde

6,746

6,988

7,745



South 
  Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway

7,768

9,352

9,086



Totals

47,071

52,140

49,011


 Adjourned
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04


 Grampian Highland 
  and Islands
 744
 809
 883


 Tayside, Central 
  and Fife
 1,794
 1,993
 1,874


 Lothian and 
  Borders
 1,288
 1,224
 1,035


 Glasgow and 
  Strathkelvin
 2,339
 2,714
 2,127


 North Strathclyde
 1,077
 1,210
 1,276


 South Strathclyde, 
  Dumfries and Galloway
 1,398
 1,603
 1,561


 Totals
 8,640
 9,553
 8,756

Maritime Issues

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce primary legislation to ensure the coherent management of the marine environment, in light of the recommendation in Scotland’s Biodiversity – It’s in Your Hands: A strategy for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in Scotland – Implementation Plans 2005-2008 that marine regulation and management should be improved through the introduction of a legislative policy and organisational framework to ensure that damage to marine biodiversity is minimised.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive’s consultation Developing a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Marine Environment closes on 30 July and it would be wrong to pre-empt the outcome. The material contained in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy draft Implementation Plans (on which the Scottish Biodiversity Forum is currently consulting) will be taken into account as our policy thinking develops.

Maritime Issues

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it has in respect of guidance on shipping activities in Scottish waters, particularly in relation to any sensitive sea areas such as the Minch, in light of the recommendation that the management of shipping in Scottish waters should be reviewed in Scotland’s Biodiversity – It’s in Your Hands: A strategy for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in Scotland – Implementation Plans 2005-2008 .

Allan Wilson: The regulation of shipping activity in UK waters falls under Merchant Shipping legislation which is the reserved responsibility of the Department for Transport. The Scottish Executive however maintains regular contact with the Department for Transport and its agencies on a range of related issues including the proposal for a Western European PSSA (Particularly Sensitive Sea Area) which would include the Minches. Scottish Executive Transport Group officials also hold formal biannual liaison meetings with their Department for Transport counterparts to discuss shipping and maritime issues.

  The Scottish Biodiversity Forum is conducting wide consultation on the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy draft Implementation Plans, which will be completed later this year.

Maritime Issues

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to address the lack of a lead agency for managing marine issues by establishing a marine policy body, as recommended in Scotland’s Biodiversity – It’s in Your Hands: A strategy for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in Scotland – Implementation Plans 2005-2008 .

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive’s consultation Developing a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Marine Environment closes on 30 July and it would be wrong to pre-empt the outcome. The material contained in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy draft Implementation Plans (on which the Scottish Biodiversity Forum is currently consulting) will be taken into account as our policy thinking develops.

Maternity Services

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Common Service Agency’s National Services Division is satisfied that plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow will result in higher quality provision of paediatric cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Common Service Agency’s National Services Division is satisfied that plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow will result in higher quality provision of newborn screening.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Common Service Agency’s National Services Division is satisfied that plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow will result in higher quality provision of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenisation.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Common Service Agency’s National Services Division is satisfied that plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow will result in higher quality provision of paediatric renal transplantation.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Common Service Agency’s National Services Division is satisfied that plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow will result in higher quality provision of interventional fetal therapy.

Malcolm Chisholm: National Services Division (NSD) submitted a response to Greater Glasgow NHS Board on the proposals set out in "Modernising Maternity Services".

  NSD would be involved in the detailed planning and implementation of any reconfiguration of national services currently provided at the Queen Mother's Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

NHS Staff

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultant posts are currently vacant and, of these, how many have been vacant for more than six months, broken down by NHS board and expressed as a percentage of the complement of each hospital.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number of consultant vacancies is collected via an annual medical and dental census. This is currently accurate to 30 September 2003.

  Number of Consultant Vacancies (Total and those Over Six Months) by NHS Board (at 30 September 2003)

  

  
 Whole-Time 
  Equivalent
 Whole-Time 
  Equivalent Vacancies as a Percentage of Establishment


 Health Board
 Total 
  Vacancies
 Over 
  6 Month Vacancies
 Total 
  Vacancy Rate
 Over 
  6 Month Vacancy Rate


 Scotland
 235.4
 122.0
 6.7%
 3.5%


 Argyll and Clyde
 14.9
 9.3
 6.5%
 4.0%


 Ayrshire and Arran
 11.0
 6.0
 6.1%
 3.3%


 Borders
 6.0
 5.0
 9.9%
 8.3%


 Dumfries and Galloway
 9.5
 8.5
 10.9%
 9.7%


 Fife
 20.4
 10.5
 12.6%
 6.5%


 Forth Valley
 7.0
 2.0
 5.1%
 1.4%


 Grampian
 8.5
 2.5
 2.4%
 0.7%


 Greater Glasgow
 57.3
 9.0
 6.4%
 1.0%


 Highland
 15.0
 7.0
 10.4%
 4.8%


 Lanarkshire
 39.8
 35.8
 13.7%
 12.3%


 Lothian
 26.0
 16.0
 4.5%
 2.7%


 Orkney
 1.0
 1.0
 20.0%
 20.0%


 Shetland
 1.9
 0.9
 21.0%
 10.0%


 Tayside
 8.9
 5.0
 2.9%
 1.6%


 Western Isles
 4.0
 3.0
 25.0%
 18.8%


 Common Service Agency
 2.5
 0.5
 7.7%
 1.5%


 Golden Jubilee
 1.0
 -
 25.0%
 -


 State Hospital
 0.7
 -
 8.6%
 -



  Source: ISD Scotland

  Note: Establishment is calculated by adding the number of staff in post to the number of vacant posts

  Further information on vacancy rates within specific organisations is available via the ISD website at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Nursing

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12626 by Susan Deacon on 2 February 2001, which NHS boards have followed the family friendly policy guidance launched on 26 January 2001 and how often that guidance is reviewed in response to changes in national trends.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Family Friendly Partnership Information Network guideline includes around 24 individual policies which NHS boards are expected to meet or exceed over time. While all NHS boards are following the guidance, they have different perceived needs and are at different stages in policy development. The family friendly guidance is currently being reviewed to take account of good practice and legislation developed since the document was published and is expected to be consulted on next spring.

Nursing

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many nursing vacancies there have been in each of the last five years and, of these, how many were vacant for more than three months, broken down by NHS board and expressed as a percentage of the nursing staff complement of each board.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on vacancies in NHSScotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce. Information on vacancies for nursing staff is published in table 10 in Section E Nursing and Midwifery Staff for each year since 2001. Figures are presented as vacancy rates and whole time equivalent (WTE) number of vacancies. Whole time equivalent adjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff. Latest available figures are at 31 March 2003. Figures at 31 March 2004 are due to be published on 12 August 2004.

  Information on vacancies for 1999 and 2000 is unavailable by health board due to the data being incomplete. However an estimated trend for Scotland can be found for these years within table 7 in Section E (Nursing and Midwifery Staff) on the Workforce Statistics website.

Pharmacists

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions were dispensed by pharmacists in the last year.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information for the year ending 31 March 2004 is given in the table.

  

 Type
 No. 
  of Items (Million)
 No. 
  of Forms (Million)


  
  Prescriptions1
 69.24
 41.46


 Stock 
  Orders
 0.37
 0.04


 Oxygen
 0.05
 0.03


 Total
 69.66
 41.53



  Note:

  1. Prescriptions issued to patients by GPs, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and hospital clinics and dispensed by community pharmacists.

  The information has been provided by NHS National Services Scotland.

Prescription Charges

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients took advantage of prescription prepayment certificates in the last year.

Mr Tom McCabe: As at 30 June 2004, 70,416 patients had held a prescription prepayment certificate.

Tourism

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority contributed to its local area tourist board in each of the last five years.

Mr Frank McAveety: The amount of direct funding that each local authority has provided to its local area tourist board in each of the last five years is shown in the following table:

  

 Area Tourist Board
 Local Authority
 1999-2000
(£)
 2000-01
(£)
 2001-02
(£)
 2002-03
(£)
 2003-04
(£)


 Aberdeen and Grampian
 Aberdeen City Council
 150,000
 150,000
 150,000
 205,000
 200,000


 Aberdeenshire Council
 300,000
 300,000
 300,000
 314,500
 306,000


 Moray Council
 163,371
 163,478
 163,550
 169,985
 151,500


  
 613,371
 613,478
 613,550
 689,485
 657,500


 Angus and Dundee
 Dundee City Council
 246,000
 246,000
 246,000
 246,000
 246,000


 Angus Council
 158,000
 158,000
 158,000
 158,000
 158,000


  
 404,000
 404,000
 404,000
 404,000
 404,000


 AILLST*
 Argyle and Bute Council
 188,000
 171,750
 192,000
 190,000
 170,000


 Clackmannanshire Council
 28,807
 28,807
 29,530
 30,270
 30,880


 Falkirk Council
 60,272
 67,190
 58,980
 63,080
 57,080


 Stirling Council
 279,466
 268,985
 274,281
 260,591
 243,850


 West Dunbartonshire Council
 54,955
 57,001
 60,103
 71,657
 66,150


  
 611,500
 593,733
 614,894
 615,598
 567,960


 Ayrshire and Arran
 East Ayrshire Council
 79,150
 79,150
 79,150
 79,150
 79,150


 North Ayrshire Council
 163,200
 158,300
 158,300
 158,300
 158,300


 South Ayrshire Council
 145,500
 141,150
 142,500
 192,500
 142,500


  
 387,850
 378,600
 379,950
 429,950
 379,950


 Dumfries and Galloway
 Dumfries and Galloway Council
 350,000
 350,000
 390,500
 458,308
 382,460


 Edinburgh and Lothians
 East Lothian Council
 194,250
 200,000
 206,000
 212,000
 212,000


 City of Edinburgh Council
 989,616
 989,612
 989,617
 1,090,000
 1,094,947


 West Lothian Council
 66,400
 67,887
 62,900
 63,000
 63,000


 Midlothian Council
 35,000
 35,000
 41,500
 41,000
 41,000


  
 1,285,266
 1,292,499
 1,300,017
 1,406,000
 1,410,947


 GGCV**
 Glasgow City Council
 1,738,194
 2,090,399
 1,989,013
 1,982,850
 2,028,200


 East Dunbartonshire Council
 0
 0
 40,000
 40,000
 40,000


 Inverclyde Council
 107,816
 4,334
 0
 0
 0


 East Renfrewshire Council
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0


 Renfrewshire Council
 72,877
 84,652
 89,275
 94,231
 91,700


 South Lanarkshire Council
 97,000
 97,000
 97,000
 97,000
 97,000


 North Lanarkshire Council
 60,000
 0
 35,000
 50,000
 50,000


  
 2,075,887
 2,276,385
 2,250,288
 2,264,081
 2,306,900


 Highlands of Scotland
 Highland Council
 507,375
 487,523
 497,723
 507,218
 555,675


 Kingdom of Fife
 Fife Council
 450,000
 450,000
 483,777
 462,836
 450,000


 Orkney
 Orkney Islands Council
 194,800
 198,700
 189,000
 193,000
 225,400


 Perthshire
 Perth and Kinross Council
 489,248
 498,070
 507,465
 506,100
 468,500


 Scottish Borders
 Scottish Borders Council
 269,045
 271,170
 277,327
 283,558
 296.692


 Shetland
 Shetland Islands Council
 175,714
 155,227
 196,880
 150,000
 201,800


 Western Isles
 Western Isles Council
 84,050
 84,050
 104,050
 104,000
 104,000


  
 Total LA funding
 7,898,106
 8,053,435
 8,208,971
 8,474,134
 8,411,784



  Notes:

  * Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and the Trossachs.

  ** Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley.

  The figures for 2003-04 are still subject to external audit.